Through Wolf's Eyes (55 page)

"Not just my nose. Blind Seer, too. If someone has frightened you, we will frighten them back."

"Thank you," Elise said, genuinely grateful. "But it's not as simple as that. Might I have a cup of tea?"

Part of her reason was to win a moment's more
respite. Part was remembering what had happened when she had tried to
tell before. While Derian poured, she began, telling them of how she
and Ninette had gone out to the cluster of rocks near the Fortress of
the Watchful Eye.

"We hid ourselves because we did not want to invite
the attention of the soldiers. However, we were not the only ones to
have marked out those rocks as a good place for privacy. Melina Shield
came there with Sapphire, Jet, and Opal."

Without wasting words, Elise told how Melina had
scolded her children. She was grateful for the darkness when she must
relate how bluntly Melina had berated Jet for his sexual exploits, but
she must be honest or risk leaving out something that might assist them.

Thus far, any pain she had felt could have been imagined
or
dismissed as the slight burning of the tea, but when she began to tell
how Melina had cursed Jet, a sharp hot sensation, precisely as if her
tongue had been bitten, caused her to cry out.

"Lady!" Jared Surcliffe jumped to his feet. "What is wrong?"

She waved him back. "Part of this tale, I fear."

Digging the nails of her right hand into her palm,
Elise continued. She tasted blood by the time she had finished telling
of Jet's cursing, but memory of Sapphire's courage shamed her into
going on. She, too, had thought herself worthy to be queen. She might
not be a warrior, but surely she was not without courage.

Firekeeper's soft voice from the shadows broke through her pretense.

"I smell blood on your breath," she said. "What causes this?"

Elise felt tears begin to slide down her cheeks unbidden, as if Firekeeper's detection of her pain had freed them.

"A third curse," she said, each word a throbbing
stab. "To guard against . . . any telling what . . . Melina has done.
Jet and I . . . she didn't know . . . but still."

The pain was horrid. Perhaps because this curse was
the one that had affected her personally, the sensation of biting ants
was so acute that she could even feel their little feet tromping on the
swollen flesh of her injured tongue.

"Quiet," Derian urged Elise, pouring her more tea and holding the cup to her lips. "Rinse your mouth and spit. Don't be proper."

Sir Jared had vanished, returning a moment later with his medical bag in his hand.

"Chamomile and sage," he said, drawing out two
packets. "Both good for the mouth and throat. Chamomile has soothing
properties as well. Do we have more hot water, Derian?"

"In the kettle by the fire."

"I get," Firekeeper said and was gone and back before anyone could answer her.

Sir Jared's potion did seem to help. At his urging, Elise first rinsed her mouth with a tincture of sage, then drank
more in a tea blended with the chamomile and some honey.

"Don't talk yet," Sir Jared said when she started to
thank him. "Let us see if the pain is as intense if you respond to our
questions. We have enough information to begin."

Elise nodded. "Good idea."

"Melina Shield cursed her son Jet with impotence. Lovely." Jared paused. "Did she know that you were there when she cursed him?"

"No."

"Any pain?"

"No."

Actually, there might have been a twinge, but Elise
wasn't going to tell him. He might refuse to go on and she needed to
tell this.

"Good. Now, based on what you said before, you think that because you and Jet are betrothed, her magic was able to touch you."

"Yes."

"Have you asked Ninette if she feels similar pain?"

"No. She is so very frightened."

"We'll still need to test this." In the lantern light
she saw him frown, then look embarrassed. "Lady Elise, are you and Jet
. . . lovers?"

"No." Did she imagine it or was Sir Jared's expression a bit too pleased to be merely relief?

Derian cut in. "Elise wears a betrothal pendant. It's
made of the same jet that he is named for, the same stone that the
sorceress used when she cursed him. Could there be a connection?"

"There might be," Sir Jared said. "Lady Elise, take the pendant off."

Elise had not removed the carved wolf's head pendant
since the betrothal ceremony. Even when she had bathed or slept, it had
remained in place. She felt curiously reluctant to take it off now, an
almost physical nausea that roiled the tea in her stomach.

To combat the nausea, Elise summoned an image of Jet
bedding some light woman, her own lynx pendant swinging from his neck
or tossed casually on a bedside table. Deliberately,
she built the details, fueling what she didn't know from her imagination until she roused an answering anger.

Quickly, before she could lose the will, Elise lifted the chain from about her neck and set the pendant on the rock beside her.

"That was difficult, wasn't it?" Jared asked.
"Interesting. When I was betrothed and later married I had no such
difficulty removing the associated jewelry."

"My father takes his off all the time," Derian added. "Especially when he's working with the horses, yet he adores Mother."

Sir Jared nodded. "I think you have guessed right,
Derian, that pendant, as much as anything, may be what Lady Melina used
to channel her spell. Tell me, Elise, did she do anything in particular
during the ceremony or soon thereafter?"

Elise tried to remember. She had attended numerous
betrothals in her capacity as heir to the Archer estates. In recent
years, her father had been tutoring her in how to perform the ritual
since, as head of the family, it would someday be her duty.

"Not during the ceremony," she said, "but afterwards
she drew me aside and made quite a fuss about the pendant. She asked to
see it."

"Did you take it off?" Derian asked.

"Yes. I had no problem with that—except for a girl's
romantic heart flutters, that is." The only pain Elise felt as she
spoke was disdain for herself. "Melina held it up to admire the
carving. She told me that I should be proud to wear it always since it
marked me as a member of her family. Now that I think about it, she
swung it back and forth, much as she did when she . . ."

Elise hid a wince as a faint but certain bite pierced her tongue near the tip.

"Cursed her children," she finished steadily.

"Her children, you say," Sir Jared nodded. "Time for question and answer again. Did she curse Sapphire as well?"

"Yes."

"Not with impotence. That would hardly be appropriate. What with?"

"Pain from her wounds." Elise was certain that the
ant bites were less sharp now. "Pain and inability to heal until Lady
Melina releases her curse."

Jared swore, invoking his society patron—the Eagle,
Elise noted in passing—and a long line of Surcliffe ancestors.
Firekeeper spoke for the first time since volunteering to bring water.

"What happens if Melina Shield dies?"

Firekeeper's intention was obvious. Though she was
but a shadow in the darkness, they could see her hand resting upon her
knife. Blind Seer's hackles were up and his fangs gleamed white as he
snarled.

"No one knows," Sir Jared answered. "The curse may
last forever without her to lift it. It may die with her. Great magics
were never taught in the New World. Most of what our people had were
inborn talents, like my gift for healing or Holly Gardener's green
thumb. Some were trained in sorcery but those with the most promise
were taken back to the Old World for their final training. Legend said
that they were bound not to reveal their arts to anyone."

Derian whistled softly. "Bound. That's just what
she
did to her children. I doubt they could get around that."

"We need to know more," Elise said, feeling panicked,
"but how will we learn! If we were at home, I might consult the
library. There are musty tomes there, dating back to before Queen
Zorana captured the Castle. Aksel Trueheart often roots around in them
gathering information for his history."

"I wonder if that library or someplace similar is
where Melina got her knowledge," Jared mused. "You're right, Elise. We
can't go ahead in ignorance. We may do more harm than help."

"We have time," Derian said. "Not a lot, but some.
King Tedric won't leave or make any great changes until after this
ball, so we have time. I think I know where to start. Hazel Healer
strikes me as a wise woman. I saw lots of books in her workshop and not
all were about herbs."

"Good," Sir Jared said. "Happily, with the ball to prepare for, no one will think it at all odd if we call on her. They'll
just
think the ladies are shopping for scent. I have the excuse of searching
for odd medicinal herbs. Indeed, since Sapphire was assaulted, everyone
is traveling in larger groups."

Firekeeper had risen to her feet. "Tomorrow then.
Early. Derian may think we have time, but wolves hunt when they are
hungry and I am very hungry."

She turned then and in a few steps was gone.

Elise sighed. "I wish I could be as sure as she is."

"She's less certain than she seems," Derian said. "I think."

Aware of her trembling hand, Elise lifted the betrothal pendant from the rock and put it back on.

"I can't be seen without it," she said. "Good night, gentlemen."

"Good night, Elise," Derian said.

"Let me walk you back to your tent," Sir Jared suggested.

"No. Better no one sees us together. There is enough uncertainty tonight. I'll be fine."

She smiled at him. "Have Firekeeper call for me in
the morning. My aunts dislike that Sapphire and I insisted on bringing
her shopping today. No one will press to accompany us."

"What about Sapphire?" Derian asked.

"I think she has a dress fitting early. Don't worry. Now, good night."

As she hurried back to her pavilion, Elise thought
about the look in Sir Jared's eyes as she had turned away. Concern had
been there, and admiration, and something more. A sudden warmth touched
her cheeks as she realized that he might be the admirer who had
anonymously left her a small pot of very expensive rose attar scent.

W
HEN ALLISTER SEAGLEAM AWAKENED
,
he realized with something like astonishment that he was actually
looking forward to his meeting with King Tedric. He listened with half
an ear as Sir Tench briefed him on various things he should and should
not do, kissed Pearl and assured her that the sketches for her new gown
and those for the twins looked wonderful, tossed said twins in the air
while they shrieked at this assault on their eleven-year-old dignity,
and then drew Shad and Tavis aside for a private word.

"You'll be escorting your mother into the town today, I expect."

Shad, a serious-looking young man of twenty who had
his mother's rounded lines and fair coloring—but no longer any of her
plumpness—nodded.

"That's right, Father. She is insisting on having us
all fitted for new clothes. I think my dress uniform should do quite
well, but Mother is acting as if this ball is Queen Gustin the Fourth's
coronation all over again."

"It is, Shad, especially for our family," Allister
replied. "However, if you wish to wear your dress uniform, tell Pearl
that this is my wish as well. If you do choose to wear it, make certain
that every button and line of braid is as perfect as if you were
expecting an inspection by the Lord High Admiral."

"I will, Father," Shad said earnestly. His recent promotion
from
ensign to lieutenant was the most important event in his young life.
Allister understood. He had also struggled to prove himself though
hampered by high birth and outlander blood.

Tavis, at fifteen, had yet to enter the Navy
formally, though like any youth raised in Bright Bay he swam like a
fish and sailed as if the masts and lines were extensions of his own
body. He scuffed his shoe along the ground and looked sidelong up at
his father. Beneath his thick golden lashes, his eyes were the exact
shade of a the sea before a thunderstorm.

"I suppose," Tavis said gloomily, "that I have no choice but to let my mother doll me up in lace and brocade."

"None at all," his father said sternly. "It is time
you realized that you have a responsibility to this family. Think about
this little fact while I am away. If a marriage alliance is made
between our family and one of the royal scions of Hawk Haven, you are
as good a candidate as your elder brother—better in many ways for he is
already betrothed."

Tavis looked at his father wide-eyed. Although a
second child in Bright Bay prepared for the possibility of becoming
heir far more stringently than his counterpart in Hawk Haven might,
Tavis had passed from boyhood onto the threshold of young manhood
secure in the knowledge that he was protected by the double bulwark of
father and elder brother.

"But I . . . but the girls . . . but Mother said," he stammered.

"But nothing. I say all four of you must conduct
yourselves as if the entire fate of our family rests upon you alone.
You boys have been taking this upcoming ball less than seriously. I
hereby order you to start doing so."

"Yes, sir!" snapped Shad.

"Yes, Father," Tavis said slowly, but his expression assured Allister that he would obey.

Allister could pity the boy. Born into another
family, Tavis would probably have become a musician or poet, a burden
to be cherished lest he starve but cherished nonetheless for the
evidence that he had been blessed by the ancestors with a special gift.
Tavis, named for a grandfather he had never
met, now must take his own part in the political games to which his namesake had been sacrificed.

"I must go now," Allister said. "Make me proud of you
and know that I will not treat with your lives lightly, but remember
also—there is a part of our lives that does not belong to us. It
belongs to our country and to our families. That is the price we pay
for titles and honors common folk do not have."